This book, the first of its kind to be published in Malawi, considers the role of animals in African human culture and history, taking Malawi as a case study. It examines the relationship between humans and mammals from the time of the first inhabitants of Malawi through to the present day. It explains how game parks and protected species came into existence, the reasons why mammal numbers have dwindled, and provides details of the different mammal species, government and independent data.
ABOUT THE BOOK A pioneer ethnobiologist Brian Morris has been studying the wildlife of Malawi for over forty years, and has spent more than a decade of his life living and researching in the country. Always engaged in exploring the relationship of the matrilineal peoples of Malawi to its wildlife, Morris has written several important and seminal studies that focus on this relationship: "Common Weeds of Malawi"(1986) "Common Mushrooms of Malawi"(1987) "Chewa Medical Botany"(1996) "The Power of Animals"(1998) "Animals and Ancestors"(2000) And "Insects And Human Life"(2004) All his writings have aimed to bridge the divide between academic scholarship and a wider audience, and combine the perspectives of ethnobiology, environmental history and cultural anthropology. The present book consists of a collection of his various writings on the landscapes and wildlife of Malawi, written over the last forty years, forming the basis of his oral presentations to varied audiences, they are lucidly and engagingly written, and will appeal to scholars, students and all general readers interested in environmental issues and the wildlife of Africa. They represent an enduring contribution to the natural history of Malawi.
Greater southern Africa has a wealth of mammal species, almost 400 – all of which are covered in this fully updated, comprehensive field guide. Now expanded to include species found in Angola, Zambia and Malawi, it has also been extensively revised to include: • the most recent research and taxonomy • revised distribution maps and many new images • colour-coded grouping of families • spoor and size icons • skull photographs, grouped for easy comparison • detailed descriptions of each species, offering insight into key identification characters, typical behaviour, preferred habitat, food choice, reproduction and longevity.
A comprehensive reference on the taxonomy and distribution in time and space of all currently recognized southern African fossil mammals. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Conservation Song explores ways in which colonial relations shaped meanings and conflicts over environmental control and management in Malawi. By focusing on soil conservation, which required an integrated approach to the use and management of such natural resources as land, water and forestry, it examines the origins and effects of policies and their legacies in the post-colonial era. That interrelationship has fundamental contemporary significance and is not simply a phenomenon created in the colonial period. For instance, like other countries in the region, post-colonial Malawi has been bedevilled by increasing rates of environmental degradation due, in part, to the expansion of human and animal populations, cash crop production, drought and consequent deforestation. These issues are as critical today as they were six or seven decades ago. In fact, they are part of a conservation song that has a long and complex history. The song of conservation was initially composed and performed in the colonial period, modified during the immediate postcolonial period and further refashioned in the post-dictatorship period to suit the evolving political climate; but the basic lyrics remain essentially the same. This book attempts to explain the evolution of the conservationist idea whilst demonstrating changes and continuities in peasant-state relations under different political systems. The dominant narrative posits conservation as a progressive movement aimed at re-organising natural resources and protecting them from destruction but the idea was contested and deeply embedded in colonial power relations and scientific ethos. Conservation emerged as an important tool of colonial state intervention and control concerning people and scarce resources. Conservation Song shows how the idea of conservation was rooted in and driven by a particular type of science about the organisation of space and landscapes. It offers a strategic entry point to understanding the historical roots of Africa's social and ecological problems over time, which are also intertwined with power and poverty relationships. In the postcolonial period, the conservation tempo subsided and became neglected in public discourse, only to re-emerge in the 1990s through the democratisation movement
